A study of galactic bulges: relations between morphology and stellar populations

• Grant number: 15/02043-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2015
• End date: December 31, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy - Extragalactic Astrophysics
• Principal Investigator: Paula Rodrigues Teixeira Coelho
• Grantee: Diana Sena Soares
• Host Institution: Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas (IAG). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Galactic bulges are structures present in the central part of various types of galaxies, in general characterized by spheroidal morphology which are gravitationally supported by velocity dispersion of the constituent stars. Although visually simple structures, detailed studies of the kinematic properties in bulges show that they may be quite different from one another -- they may be supported by rotation instead of dispersion velocity and may contain bars, structures with approximately rectangular morphology crossing the central part of galaxies. The factors that determine how this bulge variety form and evolve is not well known to date. In this project we intend to study the relations between the morphology of bulges and the properties of their stellar populations, in particular age, metallicity and abundance of $\alpha$ elements. We will study a sample of nearly 700 bulges from literature, whose stellar populations have been derived by the research group from spectral analysis. Our goal is that this study contributes to our understanding of how the star formation history in bulges is related to its morphology.